Mortgage applications fall

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PHOTO: A woman paying contactless with credit card. (Source: istock.com)

Low consumer confidence and tight lending criteria are continuing to dent demand for credit, and the recent easing of lending rules is unlikely to bring about immediate change.

Latest data from credit reporting firm Centrix shows consumer credit demand is down 9% in the year to March, and mortgage applications down 19%.

Centrix said credit card approvals have been the hardest hit since the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act changes came into effect in December.

Managing director Keith McLaughlin said the Government’s recent moves to ease the rules wouldn’t make a difference straight away.

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“Credit providers and lenders out in the marketplace put an awful lot of work into their systems in the lead up to the December changes.

“With the ongoing uncertainty about what the final process may look like … credit providers aren’t making material changes to either their systems or the training they put in their people,” he said.